April 14, 2013

JAMES IS A BAPTIZED MAN! HOLLA HOLLA! AH! I could not even contain myself on Saturday, I was so excited.  Friday night we went over to his house and had a lesson with the member we live with and James just bore his testimony about prophets, the BOM and the gospel.  He talked about how his life has changed since I invited him to come to church and he will never go back to his old life.  Sister Stevens cried as he expressed his love of the Savior. As I sat there and listened to him speak I was just overcome with the Spirit knowing how prepared this man was. I was thinking about how we even got to this point with him and it was a testimony to me that I am just acting as an instrument in the Lord's hands.  It is definitely not me nor will it ever be my doing.  I just do what I am told.  

The baptism went great.  A man in our ward who is a convert suffered from being an alcoholic and a smoker most of his life.  He has a lot of health issues and has a hard time coming to church, but he came to James's baptism to show his support and they immediately hit it off.  I am so grateful for him.  Sister Session and I sang "Where you Stand" and it went pretty well.  James was so excited when he got into the font that he started squatting in the water trying to dunk himself.  Hahaha, luckily Brother Stevens caught him before he went all the way.  After he was baptized James came out of the water with a HUGE smile on his face and gave a huge hug to brother Stevens.  We had a lot of ward memebers come to support.  IT WAS AWESOME.  I went up to him after to shake his hand and he pulled me into a huge  bear hug.  Hahahahaha oh James. How I love you.  After church yesterday he told Sister Session and I that in Priesthood they were talking about how we need to increase our numbers and bring people to church.  So James asked us for some pamphlets because the Farmers Market is about to open and he wants to go invite people. JAMES I LOVE YOU! YES, PLEASE, TAKE ALL THE PAMPHLETS.  It is amazing to see the fire and the light and change he has inside of him.  Oh missionary work. You rock. 

I almost forgot! Transfer calls were last night and I am staying with Sister Session. Not a whole lot of changes were made here which is gooooooood.  

Luckily the days have been staying beautiful! The sun has been shining and the sky has been blue, blue, blue, blue. I LOVE IT! Things are slowly turning green and I am so ready! Hahaha People are bringing out their motorcycles and bikes and riding away.  If you want a place with a ton of out doorsy things to do....Missoula is your place. Also if you are really into drugs and not showering, Missoula is also your place.  

We got to meet with one of our most recent converts this week, Angie, and I came right after she was baptized so I had her tell me her conversion story.  She went to school in Utah and all of her roommates were LDS but she had absolutely no interest at the time.  She met a guy who was an RM and he gave her a little BOM with his testimony and favorite scripture in it.  She said she took it because she thought he was really cute but stuck the book in a drawer.  She said everywhere she moved she always brought it.  And she doesn't know why. She couldn't bring herself to throw it away and somehow it always ended up in her bags.  Fast forward, she gets married to an inactive member and has a little baby and is stressing like no other.  She is unpacking and comes across the BOM and opens it for the first time and reads the RM's favorite scripture.  She said she felt so much peace and hatt everything was going to be okay and work out.  She called the guy that gave her the BOM and said she wanted to meet the missionaries.  It just goes to show that we need to get things into people's hands! They might not act on it right away or act interested but you never know what having something in their home or in their hands can do for their future.  

We also got to teach a man on Wednesday named Chris.  The Sisters before us ran into him at a bus stop and said that he would be willing to have the missionaries over.  Turns out he is not in our area.....UGH! But the lesson went really well.  He has a lot of the same issues as Rhenon and is working hard to change and turn his life around.  He has been texting us...ALOT and giving us nicknames.  I’m Dallas cheerleader and Sister Session is Queens NY girl.....so we are passing him on to the Elders tonight. Hahaha

Other than James this week, nothing to extraordinary happened. This week went by super fast and Sister Session and I are working our tails off trying to find people.  It's hard, but I know that there are people here.  

I loved hearing about Saryn's rock solid testimony and about Mormon prom....ohhhhhhh Stephen Johnston you young son.  Ha, But Syringe, you looked like a babe! WOOT! 

I love you and miss you all! Montana is wonderful, the mission is wonderful, the gospel is wonderful.  I love it! 

I love you all so much! Talk to ya lataaaaaaa!

Sister Mo